Workshop Report

Advancing early detection of breast cancer in resourcelimited settings

20 October 2022

Geneva, Switzerland

This workshop was organised by the Union for International Cancer Control in collaboration with the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative, as part of the World Cancer Congress 2022 and is supported by the UICC Breast Cancer Programme.

Introduction

On the occasion of the 2022 World Cancer Congress, UICC and the World Health Organization (WHO) hosted a three-hour workshop to support progress in advancing the early detection of breast cancer in resource-limited settings.

Many cases of cancer in lower-income regions are diagnosed at an advanced stage, when they are much harder to treat effectively. Improving the early detection of breast cancer will contribute to saving 2.5 million lives by 2040 according to the targets laid out by the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI).

This interactive workshop aimed at:

• Building the knowledge of key breast cancer actors on evidence-based strategies to improve early diagnosis in low and middle-income countries (LMICs);

• Gathering input from civil society and the breast cancer community more broadly as to specific actions they could take to improve early detection, and support implementation of the GBCI recommendations.

In total, 62 participants from 37 countries participated in the workshop including leaders from civil society organisations, governments, academia, private sector and technical partners.

The workshop was interactive, including presentations, case studies, online polls, as well as group conversations. Assigned roundtables by region enabled participants to share their experiences, ideas and recommendations with peers from similar contexts, and in their shared language. The event was held primarily in English, but table discussions were also held in French and Spanish for Francophone Africa and Latin America participants, respectively.

Agenda

Welcome

Sabrina Zucchello, Senior Manager, Capacity Building, UICC

Early detection of breast cancer and the WHO Global Breast Cancer Initiative

Dr Benjamin Anderson, Medical Officer, Cancer Control, WHO

Screening and clinical breast examination in LMICs: What is evidence-based?

Dr Partha Basu, Deputy Branch, Head, Early Detection, Prevention and Infections Branch, IARC

Table discussion

The role of civil society in advocating for timely diagnosis: Case study from Brazil

Dr Maira Caleffi, Volunter President, FEMAMA Brazil

Table discussion

Implementing a National Cancer Control Plan for early detection of breast cancer: Barriers and key lessons

Dr Mary Nyangasi, Head of the National Cancer Control Programme, Ministry of Health of Kenya

Table discussion

Closing

Sabrina Zucchello, lead of the UICC Breast Cancer Programme, welcomed participants and opened the workshop, inviting participants to share via an online poll the questions they would most like to explore in the workshop.

The most popular topics participants were interested in learning more about were mainly around the effectiveness of interventions for early detection and the implementation of early detection programmes:

“What is the most costeffective approach for the early detection of breast cancer in LMICs?”

“How can diagnostic pathways be simplified and decentralised while maintaining quality?”

“How can selfexamination and clinical breast examination help in the early detection of breast cancer, and how often should these be done?”

“How can early detection be implemented in rural areas, when mammographs and radiologists are unavailable?”

“When should populationbased screening mammography be supported at the national level?”

“What are realworld learnings from implementing early detection programmes at scale?"

Other topics mentioned in the poll touched upon how to include patient preferences into early detection programmes.